“…there is no panic. We know what levers we can pull in downturns, even dramatic ones…”

2020 has not started the way that any of us had expected, or hoped. COVID-19 began impacting our colleagues in China in late January, and since then has created health impacts all around us. Four of our colleagues who had been suffering from COVID-19 have tragically lost their lives – something that saddens me deeply. The virus has shut-down normal life as we know it in every country where Shell operates.

Amid everything, I am so proud of the countless stories I hear, emerging from all around the world, of how Shell people are showing care at this incredibly difficult time. Care for each other as colleagues, both those now working from home with all the challenges that entails, and especially those who are leaving their homes every day to keep our service stations, plants, platforms and facilities running to provide vital energy and supplies to customers and indeed entire countries.read more

Hats off to the board of Royal Dutch Shell Plc for letting reality rather than hope determine the oil major’s dividend. Thursday’s historic and hefty cut to the payout recognizes that the pandemic is likely to change the dynamics of energy demand for some time. The hope now must be that Shell resists any pressure to reverse the reduction in a hurry. Instead, it should use the breathing space to reset more fundamentally how it allocates financial resources to investment, debt reduction and paying out to shareholders.read more

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell RDSa. cut its dividend for the first time since World War Two on Thursday as the energy company retrenched in the face of an unprecedented drop in oil demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Shell also suspended the next tranche of its share buyback programme and said it was reducing oil and gas output by nearly a quarter after its net profit almost halved in the first three months of 2020.

Shell’s shares in London dropped 6.7% in early trading on Thursday, underperforming rival BP (BP.L).

“Given the risk of a prolonged period of economic uncertainty, weaker commodity prices, higher volatility and uncertain demand outlook, the Board believes that maintaining the current level of shareholder distributions is not prudent,” Shell Chairman Chad Holliday said.read more

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced oil consumption – and oil prices – down to a record low. Environmentalists are rejoicing, but unknown to many people, and largely unreported, oil companies have been gearing up to cover their losses by massively boosting plastic production – oil being the core component of most plastics we use in daily life.

The Covid-19 pandemic may prove to be a turning point for the oil industry. Already suffering from overproduction and decreasing oil prices, the oil markets suffered a major hit this year when the pandemic forced people worldwide into confinement.read more

While everyone is understandably watching the meltdown in the crude oil market, the global market for natural gas is also cratering.

At least 20 cargoes of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) have been cancelled by buyers in Asia and Europe, according to Reuters. The global pandemic and the unfolding economic crisis have slashed demand for gas worldwide. Cheniere Energy, one of the main exporters of U.S. LNG, has seen an estimated 10 cargoes cancelled by buyers halfway around the world, Reuters said.read more

The oil majors are facing a financial vice like they never have before. With oil prices hovering around $20 per barrel and no end in sight for the global pandemic, the financial pain has only just begun. Norway’s Equinor became the first large oil company to cut its dividend, slashing it by 67 percent. It may not be the last.

On Friday, Italy’s Eni reported a 94 percent decline in profit in the first quarter, a period that did not capture the full brunt of the current slump. Eni cut spending by 30 percent and lowered its production guidance for this year by 100,000-125,000 bpd. “The period since March has been the most complex period the global economy has seen for more than 70 years,” Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said. “Like everyone, we expect a complicated 2020.”read more

Featured below are extracts from negative customer reviews about Shell Energy posted during the last several days on Trustpilot. Visit the Shell Energy page on Trustpilot to view all reviews in their entirety, positive and negative (and Shell Energy responses). Watch out for any fake reviews. Note the reoccurring themes in the negative reviews, including difficulty in communicating with the company. This article posted on 26 April 2020.

IGNORANT, INCOMPETENT ORGANISATION. If I could award this disgusting company -5 stars then I would.I spoke with a senior manager a few weeks ago to request a payment holiday given the current situation. He agreed stating no problem at all and and suggested an 8 week payment holiday and if I require a longer period then simply contact them again in eight weeks. He also reassured me that no payment letters would be sent over this period and that my account was on hold. Fantastic or so thought until a few weeks later I when I begin to receive numerous threatening letters and and emails from a Shell Energy contractor DEBIT COLLECTORS !!read more

UK energy firms using debt collectors despite coronavirus agreement

The government and energy firms had agreed that no customers should be cut off during the lockdown. Photograph: David Burton/Alamy

Britain’s energy suppliers are continuing to use debt collectors to chase unpaid bills after promising to help households during the coronavirus pandemic by offering payment plans to struggling customers.

Under an agreement with the government, energy suppliers are expected to identify customers who might be in financial distress and offer to reassess, reduce or pause bill payments to help “reassure” homes during the coronavirus lockdown.

But many households and small businesses with outstanding balances on their energy accounts may still be targeted by debt collectors with warnings that action may be taken against them if they don’t pay their bills.read more

(Bloomberg) — Negative oil prices, ships dawdling at sea with unwanted cargoes, and traders getting creative about where to stash oil. The next chapter in the oil crisis is now inevitable: great swathes of the petroleum industry are about to start shutting down.

The economic impact of the coronavirus has ripped through the oil industry in dramatic phases. First it destroyed demand as lockdowns shut factories and kept drivers at home. Then storage started filling up and traders resorted to ocean-going tankers to store crude in the hope of better prices ahead.read more

LONDON (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its inquiry into Royal Dutch Shell’s 2011 acquisition of an offshore oil block in Nigeria, the Anglo-Dutch company said on Thursday.

“The SEC has notified us that it has closed its inquiry into Shell in relation to OPL 245,” a Shell spokeswoman said.

On Wednesday, Italy’s Eni, which acquired the OPL 245 block together with Shell, said the SEC had also closed its investigation into its activity in Nigeria, as well as other activities in Congo.read more

Shell/Exxon (NAM) Starts Groningen Closedown

The first of the giant field’s wells are to be cleaned up by August.

BY: WILLIAM POWELL: April 21, 2020

The operator of the giant Dutch Groningen gas field, NAM, has begun the work of removing the ten gas wells from the Uiterburen site, marking the start of the decommissioning process, it said April 20. It said the Uiterburen site would be the first to see the wells closed and cleared out permanently.

The field, the cornerstone of Europe’s gas industry since its discovery by the Shell-ExxonMobil joint venture, has been brought to an early closure as the production of gas damaged buildings in the vicinity. Gas worth tens of billions of euros will be left in the ground when the field is put out of action in a couple of years.read more

As oil prices collapse, Shell is postponing the final investment decisions (FIDs) for two planned projects, one in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and another in the UK North Sea, a source with the supermajor told Reuters on Wednesday.

Shell is now thinking of postponing the FID for the development of the Whale discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, Reuters’ source said. The initial FID timeframe was to make the decision later in 2020, but it is now postponed to 2021.

Shell announced the large deepwater discovery in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in January 2018, although it had made it six months earlier. Back then, the company said that the Whale discovery was “one of its largest U.S. Gulf of Mexico exploration finds in the past decade.” Shell is the operator of the planned project with a 60-percent interest, while U.S. supermajor Chevron holds the other 40 percent.read more

A TALE OF INSPECTORS AND INVESTIGATIONS INVOLVING DANGEROUS OCCURRENCES AT THE PRELUDE FLNG FACILITY (AND THE INTERVENTION OF COVID-19).

In a letter dated 16 March 2020 to the Australian National Offshore Petroleum and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA), Shell Australia Pty Ltd sought an extension of time for compliance with NOPSEMA General Direction ID 780 in relation to dangerous occurrences at thePrelude FLNG Facility

NOPSEMA agreed in its reply letter dated 20 March to “revise the due date for Direction 2 to 31 May 2020 to provide additional time for Shell Australia Pty Ltd (Shell) to fully comply with the directions, due to extenuating circumstances associated with measures put in place to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.“read more

By Oladeinde Olawoyin

21 April 2020

The Italian government has re-nominated Claudio Descalzi as Chief Executive Officer of Eni, Italy’s largest multinational company and the country’s largest foreign oil producer in Africa.

Mr Descalzi is set to maintain the leadership role despite an ongoing criminal trial over corruption allegations surrounding the billion dollar 2011 acquisition by Shell and Eni of Nigeria’s OPL 245 oil license.

Italian prosecutors allege that the $1.1bn paid by Eni and their partner Shell for the OPL 245 licence was used to pay former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete and was “intended for payment to a former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, members of the government, and other Nigerian public officials”.read more

Listen and read proof in audio and transcript form of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden’s cover-up tactics in the OPL 245 Nigerian corruption scandal. The instruction given by him in the covertly recorded call to CFO Simon Henry was at odds with Shell’s claimed core business principles. Cover-up and obstruction, instead of transparency and integrity, says Shell critic John Donovan

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FOUNDER SIR HENRI DETERDING, NAZI FINANCIER

JOHN DONOVAN PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL AND OTHER CLIENTS

AN OPEN WOUND FOR SHELL SAYS FT

John Donovan’s ebooks

EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZONEBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.

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Comments

Bonus Group: More news of BG diaspora.
At the Annual General Meeting of Hurricane Energy plc held on 3rd of June, Ms Beverley Smith was elected as a Director of the Company with 99.85% of the votes in favour, 0.15% votes against.
Having previous experience as a VP and overseeing a hasty retreat from Algeria at the now defunct BG Group, will doubtless be valuable when exploring rock bottom and/or fractured basement on the Atlantic Margin!

Bogus Group: Would this be the same managers and geologists that made the competent business development and exploration decision to develop the Knarr Field? A venture that failed to meet its potential, both in terms of daily production and field life. In fact, I recall the UK based BG Group General Manager for Europe was a geologist.

Bonus Group: Useless degree????.
'Also it is not possible to be a competent geologist in the oil and gas business without having a very good background education in both sedimentation and stratigraphy. Both topics go hand in hand. Furthermore, managers at both the middle level and senior level need to be well versed in this subject area in order to make competent business development and exploration decisions.'
These would be the same 'job for life', middle to senior level managers and competent geologists who at BG Group, for example, assured work at a cost of £200MM which later cost the company £2Bn because it was wrong (according to the Chief Operating Officer at the time), and also spent more than five years working in an asset following corrupt workflows?
From your post on this Blog, I see that your time at a 'reputable university' was well spent in learning how to be exuberant with punctuation.
That is all I have to say on the topic. Cheers!

Useless degree????: I was reading your blog today and saw a reference to 'sedimentology' being a 'useless degree'. I do not believe any reputable university offers such a degree. Sedimentology is a sub-discipline within the field of geology. Reputable universities do offer degrees in geology. It is possible to specialize in sedimentology I suppose, but you need to be enrolled in a geology program to do so. I know, I am a geologist, among other things.

Also it is not possible to be a competent geologist in the oil and gas business without having a very good background education in both sedimentation and stratigraphy. Both topics go hand in hand.

Furthermore, managers at both the middle level and senior level need to be well versed in this subject area in order to make competent business development and exploration decisions.

That is all I have to say on the topic. Cheers.

Bonus Group: USA USA USA Hardly surprising is it. The company is overrun by sycophantic, grossly over paid, sniggering middle managers with numerous degrees in sedimentology, or some subject as equally useless, with little to no technical ability or technical background, who are dependent upon technical staff who likewise have little, to no, practical experience and who have only ever seen a rig laid up in the Firth of Forth in photographs, or when they went for a jolly with their wives for an outing one day. They spend their time documenting 'Lessons Learned' on fancy spreadsheets which are then filed in some obtuse filing system and they never learn the damn lessons!

USA USA USA: Missed opportunities is not as bad as the botched opportunities. RDS has always claimed that there is limited capital and resources to exploit every opportunity. We all agree. But the fact that so many recent projects have failed to deliver production promises, that is more clearly a lack of management and leadership. Prelude? Penn Chem? Olympus? and the many others that have not delivered on schedule, cost or production. Then there are the projects that move forward with little to no assurance of these vital front end loading to verify that the promise is realistic. It is just more of the same - Bloat / Cut / Reorg and repeat...